Trump: We will abolish Medicare completely. Seniors can get care at very reasonable rates at any of Trump Hospitals, located in the basement of Trump Towers. If you dont tell anyone, we will even do abortions after it gets outlawed in 2017.
“Overhaul” Medicare? WTF. “Scrap.”
Well, I’m not holding my breath about this. The Senator from Wall Street has sold us out too many times…
And how is Schumer proposing to do this? Hold his breath until the Repubs give up? They have the majority and they have already passed this at least once. Only President Obama’s veto saved it. Trump will do whatever they say.
You have such a positive view of things!
The Dems can filibuster, they can put a hold on the bill, they can get 2 marginally sane GOP Senators to join them in voting it down—for starters.
It’s lefties like you and attitudes like yours that put Pres-elect PG where he is now.
“Bring popcorn”, “Make our day”.
Yuck.
If the publicly stated purpose of vouchers is to reduce spending in order to “save” Medicare then the per capita cost of the vouchers must be less than the per capita spending on Medicare. That means an increase in the out-of-pocket cost to the consumer for the same level of service.
Transferring the administration of the Medicare insurance program from the government to the for profit private sector means the cost must increase to cover the additional overhead and generate a profit for the benefit of management and shareholders. That adds another level of increase to the out-of-pocket cost to the consumer for the same level of service.
When will Schumer and the MSM make this point so clear that even a Trump supporter might be able to understand the consequences?
After losing the popular vote for the Senate and the presidency by millions, the GOP Congress plans to “Thelma and Louise” off a cliff. As President Obama would say: “please proceed”.
The current bet is the GOP keeps the Louisiana senate seat, so it will take three marginally sane defectors. There is no hope for sanity to prevail when Pence is the tie breaker in a 50-50 Senate vote.
You are absolutely right. This is a political gift for the Democrats. Not only will this Republican sneak attack on an incredibly popular program totally backfire on them, it contains the seeds of political rebirth for the Democrats. Seeds of rebirth in a 50-State strategy. Seeds of rebirth in the first state of that 50-State strategy, the looming Louisiana Senate race. If only the Democrats will seize it.
So, the first thing that needs to be done is a cascade of Democratic assaults on the Republican Congress and Trump. Schumer is perfectly positioned to lead the attack, which needs to be followed by – among others – all those Democrats in tough 2018 Red State Senate re-election campaigns. Saving Medicare is as popular in Red Anerica as in Blue. Take a page from the Republican Anti-Obamacare Death Panel assault… and “assault” every Republican Congressman and Senator-- telephone, email, local media and town meetings.
Start the 2018 Congressional election campaign now!
The Democrats need 40 votes to filibuster the bill to kill Medicare. They’ll have their entire caucus of 48 to filibuster, since even conservative Dems like Manchin would do it, since it’s this exact kind of issue that could electorally kill the GOP in 2018, even in “Red” states.
The Republican Senate - Mitch McConnell - will never let this proposal come up for a vote, because the real name of this proposal is “Republican Suicide”. And if he did let a vote, there are a lot more than three Republicans who would vote against it.
But the job for Democrats is to make sure that the American people know that it is the Republicans who wanted to screw them over, and it is the Democrats who have saved them. And to keep talking about this issue all the way to November 2018.
I suspect that those old white geezers that voted for Trump will go Huh? WHAAAT??
The Republicans will attempt to divide an conquer with the “oh you get to keep yours” , this is just for the young people.They tried it with Bush and SS
We defeat this by reminding all those young people they will be the ones shopping for plans and paying the shortfall for their elderly parents.
the challenge is to get the Trump voters to understand what is at stake here voucher block grant too complicated for them yeah “looking down” at those 110,000 old white workers retooling our country backwards. We “libs” as they call us should rsist resit resit everyrhing they say everythig they do and denounce denouce denouce. Otherwise our country will be destroyed by utter stupidity
I agree. It’s an easily understood issue, and one that will – at least for the minority of Trump’s followers that are sentient – poison Trump’s and the GOP’s credibility.
I’m well aware of the current filibuster rules. I’m also well aware of the fact that McConnell is a consummate politician and will not scrap the filibuster for all bills. He needs the political cover of a Democratic filibuster that keeps him from enacting “the will of the people.” That is why I limited my comment to @thunderclapnewman to his statement about the number of sane GOP defectors required to defeat any bill that would, in fact, come to a vote.
Thanks for your clarification. I actually doubt the GOP would win such a Senate vote, since a few sane ones know passing the bill likely is politically disastrous.
NOW is the time to get a grip on demonizing this awful idea. First, start calling it “Coupon Care” and get ads up and running showing granny with her coupon, desperately shopping for a doctor who will take it, and then shelling out cash for what it doesn’t cover! NOW!
This is the most shameless bait and switch in decades! I do not recall ONE Republican who campaigned on “Ending Medicare As We Know It”, and it is just another botched opportunity the Dems had to scare the public and warn them this would happen under President Trump!
Yes, this would be an interesting situation.
My HoR member, Kristi Noem, is running for Gov in 2018. So, she is going to be looking at a vote for eliminating Medicare. I can safely predict an earthquake of opposition to this. She is not going to vote to end Medicare while she is running for Gov.
Repeat this for the other Representatives
However, people will need to make their opinions known. Starting right away.
This needs to be killed and killed dead. It won’t die by itself.
For those ignoramusi who claim that the 60 vote threshold cannot be passed, this will be done through budget and will only require 50 votes. That is how Obama got Obamacare through.